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4d ago

South Korea Sets 2029 Deadline to End Overseas Adoptions, Puts State in Charge

U.N. experts urged concrete truth-finding and reparations for adoptees affected by past abuses.

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FILE - Yooree Kim, who was sent to a French family in 1984 without her biological parents’ consent, based on documents that falsely described her as an abandoned orphan, sits for a portrait as tears well up in her eyes in her apartment in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - Yooree Kim sits for a portrait with a computer tablet displaying a picture of her taken before she was sent from South Korea to be adopted by a family in France when she was 11 years old, in her apartment in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
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Overview

  • The Health Ministry approved a five-year child policy plan that targets zero international adoptions by 2029, with foreign placements allowed only in exceptional cases.
  • Oversight of adoption shifts from private agencies to full government control, with the Welfare Ministry designated as the central authority for placement decisions and post-adoption monitoring.
  • Officials highlighted related reforms this year, including the July transition to a public adoption system and October ratification of the Hague Convention, alongside a foster care overhaul and stronger reviews of child deaths.
  • U.N. special rapporteurs expressed serious concern over South Korea’s failure to ensure truth-finding and reparations, citing falsified records and abuse in past intercountry adoptions.
  • A government truth commission recognized 56 adoptees as victims but halted its broader probe, leaving 311 cases unresolved and any further investigation or reparations dependent on new legislation.